ID Help Please 2 items

[PODIGGER]

Two additional finds from the Peace River this week.  The first I believe to be a Tilly Bone/Fish Ballast. But looking closer once I got it home,  I thought it had the look of enamel. I also noticed striations that appeared to circle the specimen.  That said I hope someone here can give me an ID.  The second item is what I believe to be a small vertebrate.  Any input on this would also be appreciated.

[digit]

The first item is definitely the root of a tooth. Your instinct for seeing the enamel was correct. I initially thought it might be one of the long tapered roots that usually break off from large mammoth teeth but I'm not particularly certain about that assessment. The broken end is not very symmetrical and does not match the shape of any smaller tooth that I can think of offhand (lending more weight to the root tip of a mammoth). @Harry Pristis has probably seen more decent condition teeth from Florida that virtually any of the fossil hunters here. He'd be instantly familiar with a complete tooth and would likely have some fine imagery with which to compare. Being as it is a broken root, the analysis may be more difficult but possibly Harry can weigh in on this.

 

As for your oddly shaped item, I can see some porous texture to the left in the first image but I'm not certain that it is cancellous bone texture. The shape certainly resembles one of the fantastic sculptures that phosphate nodules often take. I cannot think of any biological component that would have that wild of a shape and it is certainly not a vertebra (unless that animal was crippled with arthritic pain).

 

So my assessments would be a broken root tip for the first and a faker for the second item. Will be interested to hear what others have to say about these.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

P.S.: I'm glad you didn't say miniature dinosaur skull for the second. A little squinting with one eye closed and a healthy dose of pareidolia could easily suggest that.

[PODIGGER]

Thanks Ken!  I tried the squinting and see what you mean, LOL.  It will be interesting to know what Harry thinks.

[Harry Pristis]

 

Not much to add here.  The tooth root is not likely to be from a carnivore, but I've not made a study of tooth roots.  I don't know what the second object is.

 

 

[PODIGGER]

Thanks Harry.